Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals' Bats Go ICE COLD In Texas Heat

Starting point is 00:00:00 The St. Louis Cardinals lose another lopsided game against the Rangers, although wasn't quite as bad as the score might imply, I think. You are Locked-on Cardinals, your daily St. Louis Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey there, Cardinals. I'm J.D. Hafford and I am your host for Locked-on Cardinals. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network covering your team every day. You can follow me on X at JD Sports.

Starting point is 00:00:35 You can also follow the podcast at L0 underscore Cardinals on X as well. We're on YouTube. Make sure you like, subscribe, and comment, hit that notification button so you don't miss out on anything. TikTok, Instagram, flat, locked on Cardinals as well. This is a show serving Cardle Nation and giving the best fans of baseball, all of the info about the birds on the bat. Today's episode brought to you by Fandul. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets, winning your first $5 bet wins. The Cardinals did not have a great day on Sunday, falling to the Texas Rangers by a score of

Starting point is 00:01:05 8 to 1, which I know when you see it, you're like, oh, like if you didn't watch the game and you just were like, you just saw the score at the end, you're like, oh, oh my, they got pounded again, which is an all too familiar sight because of what we saw on Friday night where they got creamed by a score of 11 to 1. That was a butt wopper for sure. This one, not quite as bad as it looks when you see the score. It took a while longer. to get to the point of the game where the Cardinals were done for in this one. Specifically, it went to the eighth, and that's when things got ugly. Eric Fetty was on the mound in this one.

Starting point is 00:01:45 Actually didn't pitch that bad. And I know I'm going to get some backlash probably for that one. But I don't think Fetty pitched all that bad, to be honest with you. Cardinals were able to jump on Jacob de Grom for a run in the first sitting thanks to a lead-off walk by Lars Newpard. And then an RBI single by Wilson Contreras. and the Rangers were able to threaten in the first after a lead off double and then a walk, but Fetty would pull off a heck of a magic trick and was able to get out of it after two big strikeouts and a flyout to end the threat.

Starting point is 00:02:14 So you're feeling like, okay, you got one on Jacob de Grom early. It ain't going to be easy to score against him. He's Jacob de Grom. He's really good. So you're kind of happy with this one run lead. Now you just need Fetty to kind of hold it down, which is not an easy thing to do. I don't care what the Texas Rangers record is. And I know they've had a lot of trouble hitting the baseball so far this year.

Starting point is 00:02:37 But when I see that lineup, I'm sorry. But I think they're a much better team than what we've seen so far this season. And they showed it in this particular series against the Cardinals. Thetting not so lucky in the second inning, though. Worst part about it, too, is that it all happened with two outs, right? That drives you insane when you get the two outs and nobody's on base and then a rally starts. and that's what happened here. With two down, he gives up a single to Marcus Simeon,

Starting point is 00:03:03 who was, he was hitting a buck 73 coming into this series. Did that look like a dude hitting a buck 73? Holy crap, it's like he knew what was coming. He'd been so bad. The Rangers manager, Bruce Bochy, had to move him down in the order finally. Something that we've seen Ali Marmel wait to do on many occasions because the people that he's considering moving down are established veterans. Marcus Simeon's been an incredible hitter over his career with the A's,

Starting point is 00:03:35 with the Blue Jays, and now with the Rangers. And this year, though, for whatever reason, he's just been a non-factor until this weekend. Before the series, 173, 34 hits on the entire year. This series alone, he goes seven for eight with three walks, a home run, three riddies, six runs scored and two stolen bases. He was an absolute wrecking ball in this series. and the Cardle's pitching staff was the building that was in his way. So he singles, he then steals second base, Fetty makes a huge mistake and walks the number nine hitter, Sam Haggerty, who was hitting 213 on the year coming into this series.

Starting point is 00:04:14 And it was a non-competitive at bat, you know, as far as like the Fetty side of things, where the four balls, they weren't even all that close. Haggerty just had to stand there. And that turns over the lineup, which brings up the lead. off hitter, Josh Smith, who then rips a change up that was up in the zone, down the line and left for a two out, two run double. Rangers take the lead, and that's as close as the Cardinals would come in this one. And if there's been a complaint about Fetty so far this year, it's the locks, right?

Starting point is 00:04:45 It's the walks. And that one really stung to walk the number nine hitter to bring the top of the order up, and he got burned. But it's only a two to one ballgame, and it's not like, oh my gosh, We're dead. Normally two to one wouldn't be much of an issue for this cardinal's offense, except they were facing two-time-time-s Young Award winner, Jacob de Grom, who's back. He's healthy, and I know in his last out he didn't strike anybody out, so that was, you know, an anomaly. But the dude's really good. It's always been very, very good when he's healthy. Outside the first inning, though, he was quite good again, shutting out the Cardinals over the next five in-route to his fifth victory of the season. Meanwhile,

Starting point is 00:05:25 Fetti held the Rangers to those two runs. He held his own. It's not like you went out there and got curb stomped. Removed after the sixth inning. His final line for Fettie, six innings, two runs, four hits. Three walks, obviously you don't like the five strikeouts. Quality start. Gave the Cardinals a chance.

Starting point is 00:05:46 Not a whole lot to complain about, really. Two to one ball game when he walks out of there. It's just a very Eric Fetty type of game. Nothing spectacular. but you look up and you're like, wait a second. Not that bad. Not that bad at all. But unfortunately, the bullpen, the offense, and the defense,

Starting point is 00:06:06 they just were not up to their normal standards. And that's how things got ugly late in this particular game. We'll get into all of that and discuss it next on Locked on Cardinals. Whether you're gearing up for back-to-back meetings, shuttling kids back and forth to activities, or you're, you know, tackling an endless to-do list, your morning sets the tone for it all. And that's why it should start with the perfect cup of coffee crafted just for you. Enter trade. Trade is the number one coffee destination in the United States, delivering fresh,

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Starting point is 00:08:27 Thanks for making lots on Carlos your first list every day. Leave your comments on YouTube as well as on acts anytime you want. Feedback always welcome and encourage. going to do a fan feedback episode here very, very soon. So any comments, good, bad suggestions that you have for the team, for the coaching staff, for the front office, lay them on me, because we'll get into it. Let's head to later on in the game on Sunday when things started to get a little messy.

Starting point is 00:08:50 Heading into the seventh inning, you got the score, two to one Rangers. Not a huge mound to overcome, right? Especially with what the Cardle's offense has normally been doing so far this season. Fetty is out. DeGrom is out. The Rangers go to former Cardinal, Sean Armstrong. You remember him right? He was the guy that they got in return for Dylan Carlson from the raise last trade deadline.

Starting point is 00:09:15 I'm sure that will be a tribute question somewhere at some point. So write that down. Either way, the Rangers bullpen fantastic to close things out in this one. Armstrong, Hobie Milner, and Luke Jackson would yield just one hit over the final three frames. So they shut things down. The Cardinals bullpen, though, not so lucky. Ali turns to Cal Leahy in the seventh inning. And he's greeted with a single by Jonah Heim,

Starting point is 00:09:43 who snuck one up the middle just past the diving glove of Mason when. Great effort by Mason. But unfortunately, he couldn't knock it down, keep it on the infield or anything like that. It gets through to center. And then Leahy ends up walking Babe Ruth. He's known as Marcus Simeon now, but seriously, Bay Bruth in Marcus Simeon's body this weekend.

Starting point is 00:10:03 They couldn't get the guy out hardly, but he walks him on four straight pitches, almost like he's pitching around the guy. And then we get to this very unfortunate play with Sam Haggerty up again. And he shows Bond. And I'm, let me explain this for you, because he shows Bond, but then he swings and he chops one back to Leahy. Like, boom, boom, right to him. Like, it wasn't like a slow roller or something. And Leahy does what he should do. You know, the Cardinals have a butt defense on.

Starting point is 00:10:31 Leahy looks at third because it got back to him so quick. He's like, oh, maybe we can go third first, get a double play. Looks to third. Nobody's there. Ghost town over at third base. So he's like, okay, spins, looks to second base, and Vernon Donovan and Mason Winn are converging on second, but they're not there yet.

Starting point is 00:10:53 So by the time he looks over at first base, he decides he's just going to put the ball on his pocket it because Wilson Contreras is hauling, but trying to get back to first base because he was in for the bunt and everybody's safe. Now to me, this is just my opinion, and I haven't seen anybody report on it yet, but to me it looked like this was kind of that wheel play

Starting point is 00:11:16 that they do in baseball where shortstop, you know, like patch his glove, makes them think that he's coming to second base, and then hauls it over to third base to be at third when the bunk gets, laid down that way. If it goes to Arnato or Contreras, they can rip it over to third base if they got time and tag the runner out. So Mason was in motion, but when the ball got hit, he stopped and started back to second base instead of continuing the third base, which left third base wide open.

Starting point is 00:11:49 Noto's in for the bun. So now nobody's covering third base. That's a mistake. Something was wrong there. the telecast then pointed out that they thought Donnie was supposed to be going to first base in this situation. And instead, he started going to second base as well. And neither Mason or Donnie were able to get to second base in time. Leahy, and I commend him for this. He didn't want to risk throwing it into center field. He saw that the way Donnie was moving because Mason wasn't even close. But Donnie trying to get the second base, he was kind of like right in line with the runner.

Starting point is 00:12:26 So even if he gets it to him, I don't even know if he's going to be out or not. But instead of trying to hit Donnie on the run to second base, he pivots and goes back to first base. Where give credit to Wilson Contrares. He was trying to get there as fast as he could. Telecast said that maybe that he should have thrown it, at least get one at first base. Again, I don't think he trusted throwing to a moving target. I think that was the thing with Leahy. So we decided not to throw it, despite Contreras appearing to be back at the bag in time.

Starting point is 00:13:00 Chip Carey described the play pretty darn well, saying it was just like a perfect storm. Like everything went right for the Rangers on that particular play. None of it went right for the Cardinals. And it was all just timing and it just didn't work out. So again, not exactly sure who was out of position. My baseball mind says it was Mason. When was supposed to be a third base by then? and he stopped, he stopped and tried to get back to say,

Starting point is 00:13:26 I don't know why he did that. But maybe that was something they were, I don't know. But there was certainly confusion on this play. And it loaded up the bases. And there's nobody out. So a very bad situation for any pitcher. But Kyle Leah, he gets the next hitter. Josh Smith to ground out to contraris.

Starting point is 00:13:47 He fires home. They get the fours out at home plate. So that's good. So now you're just a double play away from, getting out of this mess and controlling what just happened and hanging on to that two to one league. But Wyatt Langford, who by the way has got the biggest forearms I have ever seen. That dude must do so many forearm like reps.

Starting point is 00:14:10 Holy crap. But anyway, he muscles one to deep center field sack of fly. It makes it three to one. Olliewood, pull Leahy. He goes to Matt to face Seeger who was, I mean, Matt's got him out. So they get out of the inning, but it's three to one. But in the eighth inning, and that's when all the poop really hit the fan. Lead off single on a hit to third where Arnato makes this nice play.

Starting point is 00:14:33 We've seen him do it a million times, right? You expect him to make the play every time. So he's down the line, gets it, throws off balance. And the one time that he's a little bit wide on the throw, the guy's safe at first base. So Catreras had to come off the bag to get it. Still a great effort, just a little offline. but Young was, he was going to make it close if not beat it anyway. So you get that lead off single.

Starting point is 00:14:57 And now the next hitter was Alejandro Osuna, who bunts one that sits just goes nowhere, goes right in front of home plate. Joel Pozo is in the game at this point at catcher, throws it to second base, plenty of time to get him and he short hops it. Mason win normally would pick this nine times out of 10. But in this particular case, he's not able to hang on to the ball. So he's safe at second. It's an error on Pozo. Now we're at first and second. Nobody out without the ball leaving the infield.

Starting point is 00:15:29 And, you know, this is the kind of stuff that the Cardinals have been doing the other teams for most of the year. They're doing the little things. They're the ones bunting and moving people over and playing small ball. And not something you normally see from a Texas Rangers team that's usually trying to slug their way out of things. And Bruce Bochy, they went small ball. And it worked. And it worked big time. So just putting pressure on the defense, forcing the other team to make the plays and

Starting point is 00:15:58 benefiting from mistakes. It's what the Cardinals have been doing all year. Rangers did it to them instead. And that brings in St. Louis's own Jake Berger. You know, we talk about, you know, revenge games and stuff like that. I don't say it's a revenge moment for Jake Berger, but facing, you know, the Cardinals, he's from St. Louis, smashes a hanging curveball from Stephen Mattsrow double to the left, makes it four to one. Berger had just been called back up to the big leagues on May 12th because he had been so bad this season.

Starting point is 00:16:27 He was sitting a whopping 208 on the year coming into the series, ends up with three hits in the series, two runs scored. So it was a little bit of a factor. It's not like he didn't do anything. Ali ends up pulling mats for Roderry Munoz. And Roderry Munoz basically just should have put the word gasoline on the back of his jersey for his appearance in this game because that's exactly what he was in this one. It got bad and it got bad quick. Sack flighting to the first hitter. Then he throws a wild pitch and then he walks a guy.

Starting point is 00:17:01 And then a sack bunt, a more small ball out of the Texas Rangers, tip of the hat to you guys, because that was, it was, it was, if I had been a Rangers fan, I'd been like, this is beautiful. And they were, again, doing the same things. Cardinals normally do to other people. They were doing it to us. And then a two run home run.

Starting point is 00:17:19 And that was the first four pass. that Roderie Munoz face. Sack fly, wild pitch, walk, sackbunt, two-run, Homer. And it was 8 to 1. And game set match. Basically right there. It was over. All that being set, as bad as the score got, as far as, you know, how many runs the Rangers scored. The offense was missing in action. Is missing an action all weekend? Not a great week. weekend for the St. Louis Cardinals' offense. We'll jump into all of that coming up next on Locked on Cardinals. Get the supplies you need from the site made for the skilled trades. Supply House, whether you're in plumbing, HVAC or electrical works, supply house is the reliable way to order products online. They're easy to use. Website website is packed with helpful resources and the latest product information to help you get the job done right. Plus, for the complete inventory of over 200,000 parts from 400 plus top brands, you're going to find exactly what you need. It's going to get delivered fast to you and it doesn't matter where you are in the U.S. coast to coast.

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Starting point is 00:19:36 Every game, every night, all season long, you get local analysis on a national scale. So it's not going to be a couple of hosts who don't know what they're talking about. You're going to hear from the Lockedon hosts who cover each and every team. And they're going to give you their two cents on what went down in that particular game that week or that series. That's what they're going to be doing. So find a Movie game night on Lockton, MLB on YouTube or wherever. You listen to your podcasts. The San Luis Cardinals, excuse me, offense has been one of the better offenses in the lead so far this year.

Starting point is 00:20:08 Surprisingly, you know, there's some names in there that have outperformed what a lot of people thought they were going to do. Yvonne Herrera has been amazing. Victor Scott the second. Obviously, Brin and Donovan, everybody thought he was good. They didn't know he's going to be this good. Just to name a few of the guys. Obviously, losing Jordan Walker. I know most of the season.

Starting point is 00:20:30 He hasn't hit all that well, but recently he was doing really, really well. So it's a bummer to see him go on the IL. But for most part, the lineup has been very consistent. They're pesky, exhausting for opposing pitchers, which they take a lot of pride in with taking pitches, fouling off pitches, making guys work. But this weekend, it was just off.

Starting point is 00:20:53 It was a rough weekend for the boys. They just did not look like the team. that we've been watching the rest of the year. They managed to score just four runs in three games, four, one on Friday, two on Saturday and win, and then one on Sunday. Now, I do want to give credit to the Rangers pitching staff. The Rangers have a good staff, although they just lost Evaldi to an injury, which is going to be a big bummer for them.

Starting point is 00:21:22 But give a little credit to the Rangers pitching staff. You know, Jack Lider was very good on Friday night. I mean, former number two overall pick. It's not like this is some scrub coming in and locking up the cardinals. This is a guy who's supposed to be really, really good. Patrick Corbyn has been so much better in 2025 after like four straight years of just trash with Washington Nationals. Corbett has been solid.

Starting point is 00:21:46 And he was on Saturday again. And then you got Jacob de Grom, who when he's healthy, is one of the best right-hander's in all of baseball. It wasn't quite as sharp as you're used to seeing him on. Sunday, but still six innings, one run, four hits, three walks, four Ks. Even when he's not sharp, he's still pretty awesome. But it was not a normal cardinal-like weekend for the good guys. It was just weird.

Starting point is 00:22:11 It just didn't click. Nothing felt right. They were hitting some balls that would go right at people from time to time. But that happens to every team. It doesn't just happen to the Cardinals. But just five hits and three walks on Sunday, one for four with runners in scoring position. They strand six. If you go back to Friday night, one run, five hits, 0 for seven with runners in scoring position,

Starting point is 00:22:31 straining six runners again. And even in the game on Saturday, they won with just two runs on five hits, one for eight with runners in scoring position. They leave seven on base. So in total, and I think my math is right here, two for 19 with runners in scoring position, they stranded 19 runners. Certainly not. what we've come to expect from this offense for much of the season.

Starting point is 00:22:58 And I'm not going to sit here and go and now they're terrible and they're never going to be good again. I'm not saying that. I'm just pointing out the stats that that's just kind of what happened this weekend. I'm not bashing them. I'm not tearing them down. I'm not saying, oh, here are the real cardinal. I'm not saying anything like that. I'm just letting you know.

Starting point is 00:23:15 I was like that was one of the places they struggled. Runners in scoring position. They've been a better team than what we saw this weekend. Again, credit to the Rangers, but also you expect more from the Cardinals, and it just didn't happen this weekend. Vernon Donovan in the series, one for 11. Nolan Aronado, O for nine. Yvonne Herrera, one for nine. Victor Scott the second, one for eight.

Starting point is 00:23:41 His averages down in the two 50s now. He's been cold for a little while. Pedro Pahas had a horrible May, one for six. Alex Burleson, two for 11. Just a bad weekend for the offense. And the last thing you want to do is to start freaking out about this stuff after one ugly series. So we're not going to do that. The body of work says that these guys are better than what we saw in Texas.

Starting point is 00:24:09 Now, there are some positives to take away. Other than that, like, you know, don't lose your minds over this. Please don't. but some positives from Sunday's game. I think Eric Fetty was a positive. Despite taking the loss, didn't pitch that bad. Quality start kept you in the game.

Starting point is 00:24:30 When he got in trouble, pitched his way out of it. The only problem was that the two out after the second out and the second inning. That was the real trouble for him. Other than that, you know, normal Eric Fetty stuff, which has been pretty good.

Starting point is 00:24:46 It certainly looked better than he did in his last two outings against the tigers and the Orioles. You got to give me that, right? Paez, picking off Marcus Semyon off second base. That was cool. I liked that. I always say we got to quit bringing up Yadi a whole time, but Yadi like stuff right there. There was a missile down there to second base initially called safe, but replay over, turn the call. So I thought that was cool.

Starting point is 00:25:14 there wasn't a whole lot other than that on Sunday. It wasn't the most exciting game if you're a Cardinal fan. Just a rough day and a rough weekend for the offense. The defense had more mistakes, quite a few mistakes in this entire road trip. They had some issues in Baltimore, and then you saw some here in Texas as well. So got to clean that up. Bolpin wasn't very good against the Rangers either. Personally, I'm going to chalk it up.

Starting point is 00:25:45 This is a bad weekend. I don't think this is coming back to Earth for the Cardinals. I just think it was a bad weekend that luckily only cost the Cardinals one game in the standings. Thanks to, again, Sunny Gray shoving on Saturday. How great did he look? Still trail the Cubs in the division. There are four games back now. They do have an off day on Monday.

Starting point is 00:26:07 And they'll be home to face Kansas City Royals on Tuesday, which is going to start a very long homestand where they go. Kansas City, the Dodgers come to town. That should be entertaining. And then it is the Toronto Blue Jays. The Blue Jays come into town after that. So nice long homestand. You get to be back at Bush Stadium where they've been one of the best teams in baseball.

Starting point is 00:26:33 So Monday, data kind of get your mojo back. Get your groove back, Stella. and hopefully things will be better coming up on Tuesday night. Andre Palante, the scheduled starter for the Cardinals on Tuesday night. So hopefully things will be better moving forward. But let me know down below in the comments section. What are some of your concerns? Are you worried about this?

Starting point is 00:26:57 Do you think this weekend is the beginning of the end? Are you seeing cracks in the foundation for what the Cardinals have done so far this year? Are you more like me where you're like, I'm going to brush it off? But if it continues this way, then we can start worrying a little bit. But I'm not going there yet. So that's just me. You tell me what you think. Thanks for making a lockdown cardinals.

Starting point is 00:27:19 Your first listen every day if you haven't already. Go ahead and give me a follow on X at L0 underscore Cardinals at a JD Sports Radio. We're on TikTok and Instagram and Lockton Cardinals. Please like, subscribe on YouTube, help our channel and our love for the Cardinals grow. You guys are the best fans of baseball for a reason. We'll see you next time on Locked on Cardinals.

Locked On Cardinals - Daily Podcast On The St. Louis Cardinals - St. Louis Cardinals' Bats Go ICE COLD In Texas Heat

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